


The Burning Flower

by thetransgirlwhoneverwas



Series: Fictober 2020 [13]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:02:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27011698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thetransgirlwhoneverwas/pseuds/thetransgirlwhoneverwas
Summary: As Lea and Kairi train in a timeless forest for the climactic battle between light and darkness, eyes are on them. Eyes with mysterious motives, and sinister designs blossoming behind them.
Series: Fictober 2020 [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1952200
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	The Burning Flower

Lea waved his hand and his Keyblade vanished in a flash of light. Kairi did the same. Lea looked around with a slight twinge of guilt as he surveyed the damage they had just caused to the timeless forest they had just sparred in. Trees were knocked over or burned all around them. Of course, that guilt vanished as the damage quickly started to reverse itself, the forest itself moving backwards to a point before they had fought. That, Lea mused, was the advantage of training somewhere time had no meaning. One could train at full strength and not have to worry about collateral damage.

“I’m beat,” Lea admitted. “You’ve got some good moves hiding under that smile.”

“Thank you!” Kairi flashed her smile. “You’re pretty good too, almost had me a few times.”

“Thanks,” Lea responded. “But next time, I’m definitely gonna win!”

Kairi laughed. “Only if you can avoid me next time,” she teased.

“Damn, Kairi, you already won,” Lea rubbed the back of his neck in mock despair. “No need to kick a guy while he’s down.” He smiled to show without a doubt that he wasn’t serious. He was genuinely proud of Kairi’s progress. Once upon a time, he - or, his empty shell at least - had had a not insignificant hand in Kairi’s suffering. Maybe defeating him in combat was cathartic, but Lea doubted Kairi even thought of it that way. She may be perfectly capable of fighting for her friends, but Kairi didn’t have a vengeful bone in her body. At least, not as far as Lea had found.

Something stirred, and Lea found his mind drifting. A familiarity, but also a disturbance. Something that shouldn’t be here, but that he knew, somehow.

Kairi laughed again. “I’m heading back,” she said. “You coming?”

“You go on ahead,” Lea told her. “I’ll catch up in a minute.” Whatever it was, he recognised it. It was his problem to deal with.

“Okay,” she said, cheery as ever, and left in the direction of where they were staying in the forest. Lea looked away, into the distance, trying to see some sign of what he had felt was wrong. Something that was nagging on the edge of his mind, something that was-

“So this is where you went,” a voice came from the direction of where Kairi went, but it wasn’t Kairi. A voice Lea recognised from a lifetime ago, and one that wasn’t welcome even then. He spun to face it, and though Kairi was nowhere to be seen, there stood a figure in an identical black coat to the one Lea wore, but this figure stood taller, his rose hair flowing gently in the breeze.

“Marluxia!” Lea spat the name and summoned his Keyblade.

Marluxia summoned his wicked scythe in turn, but did not attack or even brandish the weapon. Rather, he simply hoisted it onto his shoulder and held it there, as if it was insurance. A message that he could start a fight any time he liked, but was choosing not to.

“Long time, Axel,” Marluxia observed him. “Or is it Lea, now? Now that you turned your back on us? Turned your back on the Organisation?”

“I was never with you,” Lea countered. “You know I was never loyal to the Organisation or Xemnas, and in case you forgot, neither were you! You tried to betray them the moment you set foot in Castle Oblivion!”

“True enough,” Marluxia admitted, before he pointed his scythe’s edge directly at Lea, but still making no move to attack. “But you always were loyal to your little friends, weren’t you? Saix. Roxas. And that one other.”

“Other?” Lea questioned, but a small part of his mind buzzed, like a memory that hadn’t surfaced in a long time, but he couldn’t quite grasp. A name, on the edge of his mind, but just as soon as it had come within reach, it faded. Lea turned his attention back to Marluxia. “How did you get here? Why are you even here anyway?”

“Oh, this place is easy enough to find,” Marluxia taunted, putting his scythe back on his shoulder and starting to walk slowly to his right. Lea followed suit and the two were circling each other, ready to pounce. “As for why, well, suppose I just wanted to drop in on an old friend?”

“You and I were never friends!” Lea insisted. “And we never will be. Got it memorised?”

“You wound me,” Marluxia responded, but as ever his tone was dull, monotonous, and could never be taken for genuine. “Perhaps I just wanted to see what you Guardians of Light were up to. Us Seekers of Darkness always like to know what to expect, you see.”

“Why did you even join them?” Lea demanded. “You betrayed the original Organisation because you thought Xemnas was just using you, and you were right! He only wanted you for the Seekers! So why, after all that, did you join them?”

“Hm,” Marluxia managed a single brief laugh, but for a moment he looked deep in thought. Maybe Lea had gotten under his skin. Or maybe, Lea thought, he was right to start with, and Marluxia had ulterior motives for continuing to serve under Xehanort and his Seekers of Darkness. “Wouldn’t you like to know? We don’t share secrets with traitors.”

“Traitor? Look who’s talking,” Lea accused. “Besides, I would never work for Xemnas or anyone who associated with him ever again. Not after what they did to Roxas!”

“And yet here we are, on opposing sides again,” Marluxia noted. “Just like Castle Oblivion.”

“Only this time I know better,” Lea taunted. “Is that why you joined them? They couldn’t get me, so they had to settle for you? Are you really that desperate, Marluxia?”

“You know nothing, Axel,” Marluxia shot back, but he dropped his hand down to his side and his scythe disappeared from it.

“What, after all that you’re not even going to fight?” Lea asked. “You change your mind, or are you just a coward?”

“The time will come for us to clash, Axel, but not now,” Marluxia turned and started to leave. “Enjoy your time until then. This peace will not last.”

“Wait!” Lea stepped forward to stop him, but a sudden gust of wind blew from all around, carrying flower petals through the air. Lea covered his eyes from the harsh wind, and when he looked back, Marluxia was gone, with only a few petals still fluttering in midair to prove he was ever standing across from Lea.

Lea shook his head. “What was that about?” he asked rhetorically to himself, unable to shake the feeling that it wasn’t a pointless visit. Marluxia had wanted something, maybe just to know something for himself, but Lea had no idea what it was. He couldn’t even tell if Marluxia was satisfied.

“Well,” Lea reasoned. “Nothing I can do about it now.”

He walked through where Marluxia had stood as he vanished and felt a brief chill move through his entire body. It faded as quickly as it came, and Lea brushed it off.


End file.
